It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that marketing ends as soon as a case gets in the door. Your marketing dollars have done their job, right? On the contrary, marketing continues far beyond the initial call or web submission.
In a recent blog, we discussed how heavily Marketing & Intake affect one another within a Personal Injury firm. Furthermore, we explained why these two departments should work in tandem to ensure you get the most out of your marketing dollars. Now, we’d like to take things a step further and talk about how Case Management also should be included in the PI marketing conversation.
In many firms, case managers are the people that actually spend the most time talking with and building a relationship with the clients. Of course, the attorney-client relationship is also very important, but case managers are often the first people at your firm that a client gets to know, and whom a client calls when they have questions or concerns about their case. Furthermore, the way a case manager handles a file and communicates with the client has a significant impact on how the client feels about how things are going with their case. For this reason, Case Management largely determines the Three R’s of Marketing: Reviews, Referrals, and Reputation.
Reviews
We cannot stress enough the importance of getting reviews from your clients, especially when it comes to SEO. Google is continuing to increase its emphasis on reviews when determining where your firm ranks when people search for things like, “Personal Injury firms near me” or “Best Personal Injury law firm in Nashville, TN.” Web users read and trust the Google reviews that come up for your law firm, and many people will make decisions about whether or not they’d like to call your firm based on these reviews. Online reviews are a rarity when it comes to marketing; they are cost-free but powerful.
The tricky thing about reviews is that if you don’t ask for them, you won’t get them. Oftentimes, your case managers are in the best position to ask clients for reviews. We recommend that your case managers ask clients for reviews directly following disbursal and that they provide the client with a link to easily write their review. If a client doesn’t have a Google account but is willing to leave a review, Facebook is also a great place for them to do so.
Everyone at your firm should work to get reviews from your clients, but case managers have a unique opportunity to do so in that they have a relationship with the clients and are in communication with them regularly. Having case managers request reviews from clients as part of their daily routine will have a major positive effect on your marketing efforts.
Referrals
Referrals are also a great way to get cases at a low cost. However, someone referring a friend or family member to your firm requires that they have such a positive experience that they are willing to recommend your law firm to their loved ones. Again, a positive relationship with a case manager is something that leaves a lasting impression on clients. If they feel that the case manager is communicating with them often, answering all of their questions, and taking time to either explain things about the case process or to connect the client with their attorney when needed, the client will feel that they were well-cared for by the firm
Like reviews, you will not get referrals if you don’t ask for them. February is a great time to run a “We Love Referrals” campaign at your firm and really have your team ramp up their referral requests or add a “we love referrals” line to their email signature. Like reviews, case managers are in an especially good position to be able to discuss taking referrals with their clients.
Reputation
No matter what you say about yourself on TV, the radio, or on your website, what other people say about you will always matter deeply. Beyond Google reviews and referred cases, your reputation in your community speaks to the impression that you leave on those that interact with your firm. You want clients to leave your firm knowing that they were well cared for and that their case was carefully handled by experts in the Personal Injury field.
Ensuring that your case managers are trained on how to set their files up for success, identify top cases, practice meaningful client contact, and much more is critical to the client experience. Not only will this improve client relationships, but it will also improve the results for the clients. Providing excellent customer service is critical to maintaining your firm’s stellar reputation in the community.
Need More Info? We’re Here to Help
When it comes to marketing, it’s easy to just cover the traditional advertising mediums: TV, radio, outdoor, etc. However, we believe that marketing goes far beyond ads and includes the client experience. If your case management team is trained to provide your clients with amazing service, those clients will become advertisements through their reviews, referrals, and contributions to your overall reputation.
If you’d like our help with case manager training, we are here to help. On March 7, 2023, we are hosting a Case Manager Boot Camp in New Orleans, LA. We will be covering all of the topics listed in this blog as well as much more. This is a fantastic opportunity to not only invest in your team but also to invest in your profit. If you’d like more information, click here, or reach out to askus@cjadvertising.com.
